Voice of the People for April 2, 2009

Whitestone: To all the Voicers complaining about President Obama's spending time filling out an NCAA bracket and going on "The Tonight Show": It took me five minutes to fill out my bracket, and his visit to "The Tonight Show" was during his visit to California to talk about and learn more about the economy. Do these Voicers prefer that President Obama spend the majority of his time on a ranch in Texas, like his predecessor in his first year?

Peter Tomopoulos

Time and space II

Trinity, Fla.: Voicer Kelly A. Thompson seems very impressed that President Obama "speaks so eloquently and coherently," as though he is the first head of our country to speak coherently. She is entitled to her opinion. However, I must make one minor correction to her next statement. She apparently meant to say: "this intelligent, thoughtful person leading us" into "this difficult time," not "through."

Jean Solfio

Picky picky

Trenton: I hear that the Republicans are up in arms again because President Obama took 10 seconds from working on the economy to bend down and tie his shoe. All of these criticisms of the President are really getting ridiculous.

Mike Brown

He's the man

Morganville, N.J.: To all the people tsk-tsking about the President's activities: Don't you get it? He's the President no matter where he is or what he's doing.

Staten Island: Your paper and especially Ken Lovett, your Albany bureau chief, should be commended for doing such an outstanding job over several days in discussing "the State of Shame." As a former state senator, I can attest that this is the most ongoing publicity about our dysfunctional state government that I have seen in many years. Keep up the good work.

Stamford, Conn.: To Voicer Gerald Ryan, who wrote that no people are less deserving of monetary support than the Palestinians: The people of Gaza and the West Bank are the direct descendants of the tribes that were there in biblical times. They were confronted by the so-called repatriation of the European people of the Jewish faith in 1948, and the drama hasn't ended yet. They deserve the same right to the pursuit of happiness and justice as does everybody else on God's Earth.

Broderick Enooch

Civics lesson

Brooklyn: What is it with this lobbyist thing? Legislation should be enacted on the basis of merit and public need, not on the dribblings of political insiders and fawning has-beens whose self-serving motives are purely monetary.

Michael Dunbar

Oyez, oyez

Manhattan: Judges are trained, paid and trusted by we who elect them to use their judgment. Mandatory sentencing removes much of the reason to have a judge. Jail is not rehabilitation, it is penalty. That sentencing periods may be decreased in order to improve rehabilitation furthers justice and reduces expense. I would think the Daily News could think of a better use of $60,000 per year than to keep nonviolent lawbreakers housed.

Frank Shinneman

Unhealthy situation

Elmont, L.I.: Our health care system is in a crisis. Costs keep going up, and families are suffering. In the United States of America, we now have 47 million people without health care benefits. As the unemployment rate goes up, so does the rate of people without health care coverage. The longer we wait, the worse it gets. We need to build a new American health care system that ensures that everyone has access to quality, affordable health care.

Bronx: Can someone please tell me why the Department of Taxation and Finance is withholding thousands of people's state income tax refunds? A normal standard return takes four weeks from the date you filed. Well, I have waited two months, and I find it distasteful. Why should taxpayers be penalized of their hard-earned dollars because elected officials can't balance a budget?

Sherisse Thompson

Not the hike, the rapidity

Astoria: The fare hike does not bother me nearly as much as the cuts in service and the loss of jobs. Why not compromise and just do the fare hike and not the service cuts?

Sal Sessa

His gal Friday

Brooklyn: I was disgusted to read about Bernie Madoff's secretary. Annette Bongiorno is sure living the good life with mansions in New York and Florida. How can she live with herself knowing that everything she owns is from the pockets of Madoff's investors?